What is Normal?

by fwelty

Nick's first day on the force , being partnered with Judy. They both proceed to stop the street racer , where something catches Nick's attention and the consequences seem to unravel the beginning of a bigger mystery, one that Judy and Nick may not be able to solve on their own. Will they be able to solve it before it is too late?

9. Back on the beat

A few weeks have passed. Judy was quite bored of the monotony of the past weeks and still a bit shook at washing the fox ,'Ugh, that was not pleasant' was something she commonly thought after baths especially at the beginning, but today was finally the day. She could finally go to the hospital to remove her bandages and go back to her job as a police officer at precinct 1. She could also use this as an excuse to test Nick. She wanted to see Nick's control of following Judy, she didn't think she could bring him along to work, but just in case she dressed him up in his freshly ironed uniform. It is good to be prepared for any situation. Judy looked in the mirror, dressed up as best as she could, ate breakfast ,brushed her teeth and then prepared to leave. As she reached the door handle, she turned to face the fox , following on all fours. "No, stay Nick, I will be back later. You need to stay here." The fox looked down at the floor upset. "Oh , Nick, you can't stay with me all the time I'm sorry." The fox's expression didn't change. Judy was really happy with her training, she taught Nick to distinguish between smells precisely and quickly and to apprehend non-lethally (admittedly to varying degrees of success). These were not simple feats that she has achieved and she was really proud. She opened the door and smiled reassuringly at the fox. The door was then closed, the fox laid down on the floor in front of the closed door , crestfallen that the bunny he was with left, but wanted to honour her wishes and so stayed. He made a circle with his body and had his face point towards the door, as if he was about to fall asleep, but sleep was the last thing on his mind.

Back outside, Judy was sprinting, she knew it wouldn't be long before Nick started searching for his peace of mind. It was inevitable. She was dancing and weaving between pedestrians, avoiding every single person with such finesse and pizazz that it was like she was a figure skater with no ice. It was honestly impressive. Mammals were yelling but she paid no attention , after all no-one was hurt and she needed to hurry. She reached the doors of Savannah Hospital and slowed down , inside it was dangerous to run due to the tight corridors and sudden turns and all the mammals walking about, nurses, patients, etc.. Inside , she walked up to the receptionist."Ahh, Officer Hopps, we were waiting for you. Please head to room 21 which is on the ground floor down that corridor. You won't miss it."

"Thank you."

"Can I ask where is Officer Wilde? And can I call him an officer in his current condition?"

"Nick is fine at home and well , he still is a member of law enforcement even if he is on medical leave currently."

"That is good to know , Officer Hopps. Thank you for explaining." The doe smiled when she heard that, the first mammal to truly appreciate her help today, but there weren't many things she did do today. It was always the little things that mattered for Judy. She strolled down the corridor with a slight spring in her step. The sterile dull corridor there, for once didn't affect her mood as she knocked on the door she was told to go to.

"Come in." A kind familiar voice stated from beyond the wooden door. Judy walked through. "You know I expected Officer Wilde to come as well."

Judy replied half-jokingly."Oh you know he'll come."

The tiger inside laughed at that. "As long as he signs in for the appointment at the desk."

"You think snarling will be enough?"

"If that's his name then yes."

The two shared a laugh. "First let's deal with you, Miss Hopps." He pulled out a pair of scissors and cut through the bandages that were applied tightly on the bunny. There was a bit of discomfort but no pain. The wound seemed to have mostly healed but a small scar remained where she was stabbed. "That is a re-mark-able recovery, you know."

Judy chuckled "Not funny ,Doctor Growly."

"I beg to differ." He smiled. "Now onto the second part of our meeting. Nick."

"Is there a way to help him?"

"We don't know yet, but we did find out that he has an elongated life span, kind of. It seems his body replaced lost genetic code and so his chromosomes are mostly reconstructed and so it is as if he is rejuvenated. Also, he has also every sense improved. His digestive system is better and his bones are much sturdier. It seems his body is created to deal and take damage as much as possible. His skin is also thicker but I assume you already knew that, and his metabolism is greater. One thing that could be problematic from what I have seen is that, he may be desensitised to killing, as if his primitive instincts are prominent but I can't confirm that until he is returned to a more 'civil' state. But for all I know he could behave like a 5 year old or a 25 year old."

"I understand that. Oh god, a teen Nick would be unbearable to deal with."

"That I would probably agree with."

20 minutes ago , back at Nick's apartment.

The fox still laid there but was beginning to be restless, when was Judy going to come back. He stood up and walked in circles, unsure of what he should do, what if she was in danger and he wasn't there to help? What if she is already dead? He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. But if she is fine, she will be angry again. Nick didn't like making Judy angry or upset, it made him feel wrong , but he really couldn't take that risk. The thing that finally tipped the scale was when he noticed a red dot project on the door in front of him. He turned around and saw a flash, repeated flashes actually , all from the same place. He ran to the window, would've fallen through if his paws weren't so darn strong at gripping the ground. He didn't even slip. He looked through the window and saw what was causing the flashes. It was another mammal from very far away. The mammal was laying down with some sort of pipe that rested in front of the mammal's face. Nick became annoyed by that sight , as it didn't feel right to the feral fox. He ran through the door breaking the hinges. Judy wouldn't like that but this was important. At least he thought it was important. He ran, no sprinted through the crowds, not caring if they were hurt by the fox, he had to reach her. He left the building and quickly sniffed. After a few seconds and the training from Judy , he caught her scent. He followed it like a homing rocket. His target location was locked. The source of the smell that he strongly smelled. During his sprint, he smelled many smells that he was taught were bad and avoid or intercept but now he didn't care, not when his rabbit was in danger.

He hurried knowing that time was of the essence here. After one turn there were no mammals in his way. Perfect, nothing will slow him down now. That was when something cracked the concrete next to him. He looked up and saw the flashes again, the mammal had it out for him. He growled and continued running. His running was now less straight and he moved much faster, forcing his limbs to work extra hard. He was pretty sure, he once heard one of the tile snap under his movement but now wasn't the time to investigate after all, it could've been what ever that mammal was doing.

The smell was getting much stronger, it was inside a building before him. He ran in and followed the smell, he disdained everyone's safety at that moment and carried on running. Seeing all the items and mammals in the corridor in front of him, he manoeuvred in a way that he miraculously hit nothing, although he did plan to do that. The scent was finally extremely strong compared to when he started, but there was another scent. "I would probably agree with that." That was all Nick heard before breaking through the door that tried and failed to stop him.

"Nick, what are you doing here? I told you to stay." All Nick did in response was grab Judy by the arm and drag her to the part of the path where many tiles were broken. "Sorry , have to go, I have no strength against him."

When outside , Judy's tone was more aggressive "That was very rude, Nicholas." He really didn't like that but didn't care right now. They finally reached the destroyed path. Judy stood there shocked. "Did you do this?" Nick walked up to one of the holes and started digging through the concrete. This further shocked the rabbit. The fact that he could dig through the concrete as if it was sand. Inside laid a silver coloured bullet. "Nick, what happened?" Nick just simply stared at the tall building in the distance intensely. "There?" Judy pulled out her tweasers and a small plastic bag to remove the bullet and keep it without disrupting the crime scene. That was when Nick started to curl up, he remembered what he did. Judy noticed this and knew he only did that if he did something he knew was 'bad' . "Niiick, what did you do?" Nick curled up even more now covering his face with his tail, he was clearly ashamed. "Okay, let's go home." Nick stood up and trudged along, slinking behind Judy. She noticed this and wondered what he did that he wanted to be second. He always wanted to go before Her to make sure it was safe. He definitely did something. Judy smirked ,knowing she couldn't be too harsh on the fox, he didn't fully understand what he was doing. They finally reached his apartment , where she sighed , seeing the destruction the fox created. "So , you broke the door off , again." There was a clear tone of annoyance, as she started ringing up the block's landlord. "Hello, I've had an issue again."

"Again? Learn to control yourselves."

"Sir it's no-one's fault, I assure you. Nick isn't the same as before."

"Tell him to cut the act, I know he is lying." That was the moment Nick started growling, he started to learn what words meant after the weeks of hearing Judy talk.

"Sir, it isn't an act, I saw him turn myself."

"Then why are you okay?" The landlord asked rhetorically.

"I-I don't fully know." Judy felt silly as she heard the words coming out of her mouth , it was true , Nick was technically savage, and Judy was safe next to him.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I need to now go to do my duty and so I need this door fixed."

"Yeah, yeah, blabber on, I'll get it fixed." The line cut out, the landlord hung up.

Judy sighed and headed to get changed into her police uniform. Her badge hung proudly from her chest, however this time she didn't put on her vest as the vest was damaged and not replaced. She knew Nick wasn't going to sit in the apartment now if the door wasn't closed, so she relented and brought the hyper-energetic fox. Maybe he would be allowed and even useful. She walked into the precinct where Clawhauser sat. "Oh hi, Judy you're back. It's so good to see you again." He was about to hug but the fox growled. "Hi Nick ,hehe, didn't see you there, how are you?"

Judy responded for him "Yeah , we're good, he's still not himself but he will come back eventually, I hope."

"We all do, he may be a bit snarky and annoying, according to you, but he doesn't deserve this."

"Yeah, I agree." Judy commented , a bit quieter than before. She was clearly distraught over Nick being like this.

"Meeting in the briefing room in 10 minutes, all current officers are to attend." Benjamin stated to take Judy's mind off of Nick's situation.

"Thanks, Benji. We'll be going now."

When the two left , Benjamin commented that "The two of them are so cute." Judy didn't hear it as it was quiet enough and they were far away enough but Nick did, he turned and barked at the cheetah. Benjamin jumped and Judy scolded the fox. The fox lowered his head and walked on. "Sorry Ben."

"It's okay." the cheetah responded ,trying to calm himself down.

The rabbit walked in with the fox, who didn't know where they were going so only followed to not get lost, ignoring his amazing sense of smell. It was a sense of smell that surpassed even the likes of wolves. The rabbit sat down in her usual seat and the fox sat down beneath her. Everyone looked at Nick confused why he was sitting on the floor the way he was instead of on the chair like on his first day. A few minutes later, a raccoon entered and walked over to the same seat before seeing the bunny sit there. "Hey ,excuse me? Sorry but I was sitting there." He only said this because every other seat was taken and he was sitting there for the last couple days.

"Oh sorry, I knew this seat would be taken in my absence. Would it be okay if we shared?"

"Errm... I don't see why not?" The raccoon headed towards Judy but was stopped by a lifted head and a snarl.

"Nick! Stop that." Then there was a quiet whimper as he lowered his head and looked away.

Just then, the cape buffalo everyone knows as the chief of police walked in. There was lots of banging on the desk, Judy herself didn't partake in the act but didn't want to ruin routine. The fox however dropped completely to the floor and covered his ears. The noise agitated him but there were too many sources, he wouldn't be able to stop it himself. Luckily, Chief Bogo could. "Alright , Alright, that's enough. I said THAT'S ENOUGH!" The banging stopped and the fox started to relax his muscles. Every single one seemed to have tensed up as that happened. Before Bogo could start his daily report of handling everyone's duties, Judy spoke up. "Sir, would it be okay to investigate a crime scene that has occurred this morning."

"Please explain before I decide that you haven't had a long enough break."

"Of course sir, it seemed there was a sniper, which has tried to take out Nick. An entire pavement of a single street is littered with broken tiles and bullets. I have taken one as evidence already." She pulls out a bag and reveals it.

Everyone started discussing it between themselves, in shock that such an event has happened. "Very well, you will not be doing a patrol you will investigate this crime and see what you find. You will report everything back then, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir."

"And before you leave, your partner will be Jacob Pawson."

The raccoon next to her, simply says "Hi."

"What about Nick?"

"Good question, but a better one is , what is he doing here?"

"Sir you know he is basically stuck to me like glue, you saw us in the hospital."

"That is true, and so that means he is staying with you at all times?"

"Unfortunately yes, sir."

"Fine, but if anything happens because of his actions, it will be your responsibility and you will take the blame."

"I accept that sir."

The three started to head out of the briefing room just as Bogo started discussing how more assaults were occurring in the city. Jacob asked, "Do you think it was the same mammal as the one that killed that small time journalist? I think her name was Diana Felks."

"Maybe, but we can not assume that right now. Not until the evidence shows that they are connected."

Judy pulled out her keys to her and Nick's cruiser. She opened the back , "Come on Nick, get in.". Nick jumped in then Judy closed the back. She turned to Jacob, "Would you be okay sitting at the back if we arrest someone?"

"Yes, I wouldn't mind. It will be fun talking to the mammal."

Judy was perplexed at that comment, "You do know that we could be arresting a trained hitmammal or a psychopath, right?"

"I could only hope." was the response she got. She stopped asking questions from that moment. She didn't know how to compute that information she just received. She just walked around to the driver side seat and jumped in. Jacob jumped in the passenger door. Nick made himself comfortable on the rear seats. They drove to the place ,which the two mammals walked past. When they arrived, the three got out. Judy investigated the other damaged tiles , with Nick digging through the other pavement blocks,while Jacob went to the first concrete tile with claw marks. "What happened here?"

Judy looked over. She saw what the raccoon was referring to. "Oh Nick decided to dig through it, he did that with ease. The thought alone is scary right, imagine what else he could do?"

"That's amazing, I'm sitting with a creature that could do unthinkable things without breaking a sweat."

"You should be careful with him though, he is really defensive and brutal."

"I'm aware, I think that's cool."

"I think you like things that scare others too much."

"That's why I joined. Hoped to meet some incredible mammals , on both sides of the law, and have fun moments, then paperwork to let the fun subside. Hell, the paperwork makes the action even better."

"That's a unique perspective."

"I guess."

Just then Nick came back, digging through about half of the tiles. "What about the other ones?" The doe inspected the undug tiles, there was no bullet in them. It turned out the other half were actually caused by Nick running away from the shooter. Judy collected all the bullets and placed them in a ziplocked bag as evidence. Maybe they could find the source or some insignia on the bullets. "Hey Pawson, think you know where these bullets are from or at least what they are?"

"Nah, sorry. Don't know much about them."

"Neither do I, that's why I asked." Judy smiled to his temporary replacement partner. "We should check out the tower there."

"Why?"

"He says that's where the shooter was from."

"You speak feral or fox or feral fox?"

"No, but I do understand basic gestures such as pointing." Judy responded to the raccoon.

"I could've expected that."

"Let's just head out." They all returned to the cruiser and the doe drove off to their new destination.

The destination was a prey only hotel as it turned out, which meant that if the shooter fired from the roof, that they were either prey or snuck up to the roof without being noticed. "Hello, welcome to Prey-adise. He- why are two predators here?"

Judy groaned at the question as it made it seem that their uniforms were invisible. "Hi , sorry but we are investigating a shooting. All three of us are police officers." Just then , the raccoon puffed his chest and held his badge.

"I doubt such creatures would be taken in as members of the police and I doubt that a rabbit would be acce- Oh wait, you're Officer Hopps."

"Sir I believe you should finish your statement." Judy responded with such venom that a snake would seem clear in comparison. The raccoon stepped back and the fox stood up and prepared to fight.

"I apologise deeply for such comments, they we-"

"Comments that were prejudiced based on a species , which is technically a criminal offence." Judy cut him off.

"I understand and so I apolo-"

"Sir the law doesn't understand words only actions." The receptionist started to sweat, they were starting to run out of options. The fox smelled his fear rising and felt a slight increase in his heart rate.

"Fine, you can go up to the roof."

"Thank you for co-operating sir."

Just then the three continued up to the roof, and the receptionist gave a sharp exhale and leaned back on his chair. Both the rabbit and the fox heard that exhale, and both turned around to look at him. Then they both continued on their path ,catching up with the raccoon that continued walking, unaware that they paused for a second. They entered an elevator and rode up to the top floor. The lift played a quiet simple tune."So you seem to know how to deal with such mammals."

"I'll be honest, I didn't always know but he was my first victim." She pointed at Nick. "Mammals are easily manipulated when worried about the law and being given a criminal record. There is a sense of fear that helps us do our job. But be careful, it is bending the rules a bit. Go too far and it is blackmail."

"Understood ma'am."

"We are equal rank."

"Well, you are teaching me."

The elevator stopped moving, dinged, and opened its doors. The mammals were still inside and saw a few mammals walking about the area. This seemed to be a floor for the hotel rooms. The three walked through since the stairs were illogically placed on the other side. 'The shooter had to be prey, there was no way a predator could walk past without being spotted. Spotted, that's it. The camera system, this place would need an operating security system for the safety of its residents' . Judy turned to Jacob "Hey think you can go to the security office and watch the tapes for today about 9:30."

Jacob saluted then headed back downstairs. Judy and her fox walked down the corridor, there were many derogatory comments to the fox but many just ended up being "How good that he is listening to that rabbit." or "Finally a predator that knows his place."

Finally they reached the rooftop access stairs and walked up them. They opened the door and didn't know what to expect but what they found was definitely not it. They saw a single bullet casing placed vertically on the edge of the roof. Judy pulled her phone out and took a picture of it to make sure that they had some form of evidence. She pulled out a third plastic bag and put the bullet casing in there. She was happy they had some form of evidence. They already had a lead. However everything good must come to an end. When Judy and Nick were searching the roof, they found nothing else, furthermore Jacob told them through Judy's radio that "No-one went up to the roof today through the building."

Judy picked up her radio. "Understood, so we don't know who it was or how they got up here. Meet us downstairs."

"Yes ma'am."

"I told yo- never mind just call me Judy okay?"

"Okay, Judy."

The two on the roof returned inside then continued in that direction to the lift, where they rode it all the way to the bottom. "Nick, you did a surprisingly good job today, I'm proud. We wouldn't have anything without you." Judy smiled and hugged the fox. The fox just rubbed himself on the bunny. "Stop before I smell too much like you, dumb fox." Even though it was meant as a joke due to their past banter, the fox recoiled and felt betrayed by that statement. Judy noticed this and instantly felt horrible. She completely forgot that he would take it literally. "I'm sorry Nick, it was just a joke." Nick still kept some distance after the apology but he was still close enough to protect her in a moments notice.

At the entrance the receptionist asked, "Did you find what you were looking for?" The tone was genuine but there was a hint of annoyance.

Judy responded with a smirk, "Why yes, yes , we did. Thank you for asking."

Jacob just arrived, "So, you find anything?"

Judy pulled out her bag with one bullet casing. "I found this."

"Pawsome, we got something."

"Well, it's time for paperwork now."

"I expected as much, he's lucky he doesn't need to."

"I don't think lucky is the right word to use in this situation."

"Yeah, I guess you are right, it must be horrible to not even be able to talk."

"For him, most definitely, he loves talking."

The three hopped in their cruiser just as they did before. Judy texted Finnick quickly.

'Any idea who would've wanted to kill Nick?'

'?'

'No. That's weird.'

'Why?'

'neva mentioned'

Judy turned her phone off, she was perplexed, is this linked to what they were attacked by or not? It seemed the more questions they answered, the more they had to ask. But right now they were returning to Precinct 1 to hand in all the evidence they collected that day. The forensics department was surprised, usually only a few bullets can be recovered but a whole magazine's worth of bullets was rarely heard of. "How do you have so many?"

Judy knew that there was a lot of damage to fix but that for their future selves to deal with. "Nick is good at digging carefully."

"You mean officer Wilde? The savage one?"

"He's learned a lot." The scientists there were a little confused but didn't ask they just wanted to process the evidence that they were given.

Pawson told Judy, "I'll head over to my desk to start on my report."

"Good idea, I'll finish processing the evidence. " She then turned back to the scientist "Oh yeah, I also have this image, could be an MO."

" Yeah just e-mail the image and we will process it." The forensic scientist was clearly tired as he usually sat two shifts due to the recent shortage of such staff. Judy realised this and wanted to just get out of his fur now, so she did just that. She left the forensics office and strolled all the way to her desk.

She sat down by her desk and started typing out her report. It was a painful and gruelling experience. She wished she could just not do it but alas all careers had their ups and downs.

Pawson walked up to Judy, "How is it that before your first day back, you are targetted by a criminal mammal and nearly killed? Was it exciting?"

"First off, it wasn't me targetted, it was him." Judy pointed at a sleeping Nick. The boredom of paperwork was so contagious that it infected the fox . She chuckled then yawned. "Second off, I don't think it would be exciting to be nearly killed."

"I wanna know how it would feel."

"I think you should just return to writing your report."

"Yeah , there is still a lot to write."

"Then hurry , it would be better to finish today rather than tomorrow or even worse in overtime."

The raccoon was slightly panicked, he didn't want to stay back more than he was legally obligated to. He ran back and started clacking out his report at ludicrous speeds. Judy chuckled at the sight from the other side of the room. 'Now, he is motivated' Judy thought as she saw the desperate raccoon rush his sentences and make many mistakes in it. Jacob had to rewrite about 40% of his report due to all the mistakes. Judy however, finished faster and with less mistakes. She walked over to the raccoon to check up on his report. Turned out he was almost finished but needed a little help so Judy explained what he was meant to do there. Now what the three needed to do was wait for the evidence report and act on whatever information it gives. But it could be possible that there is no information to gather and that would be very problematic. But that once again was a problem for their future selves. So she decided to let Jake leave and then pack up herself.

Just as Judy was about to leave, the future became the present. Bogo called out for her across the entire atrium. "My office, NOW!"

Judy groaned at that , it was bad enough that it was almost 22:00 , yes the reports took that long, mainly because they had to make up for a third member. The fox just followed the bunny carelessly, he knew it would take a while.

Judy pushed the translucent door, which read 'Chief Bogo' open and walked into the room that it blocked. Nick followed in almost instantly. "Wilde, get out. This isn't for you." The fox stood, or rather more fittingly sat, his ground. He then raised his muzzle and looked away defiantly, as if to show that Bogo held no command over the wild(e) fox. "Ugh does he have to be that difficult?"

Then Judy tried but in a much more delicate and kind tone. "Nick, could you please just leave the room for a second?" The fox stood up then walked over to the door. That's when both sane mammals realised something. He can't open the door. "I'll open it for him."

"Good idea." The chief was unamused by what was going on in his office. Judy pulled on the handle and opened the door. The fox slipped through the small gap then was clearly seen as a silhouette ,sitting just outside the door, his tail swaying from side to side.

Now that Nick was gone, Bogo was ready to discuss everything that has happened. "Two things. First ,why does Gold Street look like a pirate lost his way on a map? How did you even do that, that is concrete."

"First off sir, we were there to collect the bullets that broke the concrete plates. And to do that, we had to get a little bit creative as they were lodged in deep, too deep to be collected via conventional means."

"So what, get a drill from who knows where and break the tiles even more?"

"Sir, I was about to explain. What happened was that Nick used his claws to dig through the concrete just far enough to make it possible to retrieve the bullets."

"Okay, so that fox. A fox mind you , not a mole or a bear or a rhino. A fox , about a quarter of my size dug through concrete 'delicately as you put it."

"Yes sir."

Bogo threw his arms in the air. The sentences that were stated made no sense but the excuse was valid, a savage creature was searching for something in the area. At least that was what he was going to say to the mayor. "Okay, fine, but can you explain why you went to a prey hotel with a savage fox? I don't mind the raccoon going there but Nick is a dangerous threat."

"Sir, Nick is not dangerous, not as much as in the beginning." Judy tried to defend the feral but was failing as Bogo realised Judy did not say that he wasn't dangerous.

"So he is not as dangerous as before? So there is a chance that he could I don't know lash out and maul innocent mammals?"

"No sir, he seems to be trying to adapt to my lifestyle. He still eats protein but he knows when he did something wrong and feels guilt from that. Second off, sir , the sniper was positioned on the roof of that building."

"Really what is your evidence? The 'word' of a savage fox?"

"No sir, the fact that we have found a bullet casing there." Judy pulled out her phone and showed the picture.

Bogo froze for a second. "Maybe I have been too harsh."

Judy accidentally yawned ,her tired state was starting to present itself. "Sorry sir , I'm just extremely tired as it is late. And don't worry sir, we all make rushed decisions." Judy sighed as she said that, she instantly flashed back to the press conference where she split the relations of the city even further apart. Sure the city was already broken but what she did was break it even more, like a toddler playing with an old toy.

"You're dismissed."

"Thank you sir, goodbye." Judy left the office, feeling exhausted and slightly agitated. Nick wanted to lift her spirits but didn't know how. So he decided that she deserves a ride home. Nick slid under the bunny's legs ,just as she stretched them to make sure they weren't asleep and stood up. This woke the bunny up really quick. "Uh oh." She instantly leaned forward and grabbed around the neck of the fox and held on for dear life. Funniest part was that no matter how hard she squeezed the fox could still breathe due to his general strength and endurance. She then wrapped her legs around his waist and ensured that she wouldn't slip. Nick gave a couple more seconds to let the doe prepare, but you can never truly be ready to ride a feral fox, especially not one like Nick. He leapt off of the second floor and landed gently on the ground floor, where Clawhauser's shift replacement, an equally cheery but not equally rotund lemming, sat. She was shocked at the sight at first, then was confused as she saw Judy holding on. She didn't know how to react and whatever she did, it would've been too slow anyways because the fox ran through the open door. Fangmeyer also saw what has just happened. She just walked up to the lemming and simply asked, "You saw that, right?"

"Yeah, Judy was riding on top of Nick like a motorbike, I couldn't tell if she was enjoying it or was terrified. Maybe a mix of both?"

"We'll keep it between the four of us. Me, you , Judy and maybe if we're kind enough Nick. Sound good?"

"Yeah, it's not like anyone else would believe us."

Meanwhile in the security office, two badgers sat and also watched the whole thing and had a similar conversation. Finally , they radioed Fangmeyer as they saw her and asked for confirmation of what they witnessed. The response was a sharp and simple yes. All of a sudden Fangmeyer realised that that short clip was going to be circulating the entire precinct building tomorrow. "Good luck Judy, you may need it."

Back outside, Judy was feeling all the wind rush past her as the fox danced around the pedestrians on the pavement. After the initial shock, the feeling was honestly liberating and enjoyable, like an unlicensed roller-coaster, after getting over the fact that it could fail horribly, it was really fun. Judy yelled out loud her enjoyment but not loud enough to wake mammals up, it was the middle of the night by now after all. The fox took a small detour, feeling how the bunny was enjoying herself and ran through obstacles in a way that he had as much air time as possible. It was a delicate balance of safety and fun, Nick didn't want the doe to be injured after all. His speed , although not his full capability was still enough to give the small rabbit an adrenaline rush. Once they finally returned home, both Nick and Judy were completely exhausted, Nick from the running and Judy from the adrenaline crash. Both have deserved a nice rest. But before that could happen, Judy had to do the one activity in the day she dreaded, wash the darn fox. It wasn't that it was difficult, no , it was mostly easy as Nick listened, it was just embarrassing for the doe, to sit in front of a less than decent Nick Wilde, and she was always really uncomfortable in these situations. "Nick, come to the bathroom." She called out preparing for this repeating nightmare. She taken off the shirt, then the trousers, then the last item of clothing, his underwear. Judy always stiffened up her body and tried to not look down. But when washing the fox, this is a complex task to achieve . She once again struggled but managed to wash the fox well then brush out his fur. She then put on some spare clothes on the fox so he was at least decent. During the entire ordeal it didn't seem like the fox cared about his appearance, he was there to get washed and leave, and so he did just that. He always liked how he smelt afterwards, whatever shampoo and conditioner the bunny used and a tiny hint of Judy. The vulpine always targetted the scent of Judy on his fur and it always put him at rest. Judy cleaned up quite quickly, then went to sleep in Nick's bed, as soon after Nick would always join her. But one fact kept her awake, her exhaustion was tamed by the knowledge of what tomorrow was. It was Nick's Birthday. She didn't know what to do for him.

A/N: Yeah, I did it ,sue me. It is his birthday tomorrow so he will be ageing however that works with him at this point.

Next chapter will be the birthday as I feel I have done too many Finnick chapters. We will see Judy try celebrate Nick's birthday and as it is Nick's birthday I bear the gift of giving the chapter tomorrow.

I don't think I have much to write here but I did want to point out that the introductory two chapters have been edited, so maybe you should reread them? If you don't you won't miss much they really aren't that different and the plot doesn't change.